


you win some, you lose some

by psychopathicdorito (orphan_account)



Series: Adrinette April [13]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette April, F/M, Pre-realtionship, also discuss would adrien be allowed near a ball that could damage his perfect model face, day 13: playing sports/gym, late upload!adrinette april, marinette and adrien play softball!, nino and alya #1 shippers, pre-reveal, the girl is so girly i mean that's not a bad thing, this is so ooc because why would marinette be excited about softball, this is the only sport i know how to play i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 19:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6919447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/psychopathicdorito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien finds out that Marinette is surprisingly good at softball. (Day #13 of Adrinette April [late upload!] Topic of the day is: playing sports/gym.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	you win some, you lose some

“Strike three! Batter out!”

“It’s not _fair_!” Chloé whined, throwing the bat to the ground and stomping her foot. “Marinette throws too fast on purpose!”

“That’s because she’s doing her job right, Chloé.” Alya smirked, putting up the catcher’s helmet. “You’re the one batting too slow.”

“Augh! This game’s stupid, anyway!” Chloé exclaimed.

Marinette watched in amusement from the pitcher’s mound as the rich blonde stomped back into the shade, and then with a wide glance as another rich blonde stepped up to the batter’s plate, clutching the bat with confidence and giving Marinette a grin before getting into position.

“Uh, can I have a word with the pitcher first?” Alya called, running up to Marinette as soon as the teacher nodded.

“What if I hit his head? He’ll get a concussion, and then he’ll hate me forever! What if I accidentally put him in a coma? Oh, _Alya_!” Marinette whined, grabbing on to Alya’s arm and shaking her back and forth.

“Calm down, girl! That won’t happen, alright? Get a grip on yourself!” she exclaimed, holding Marinette steady. “Just throw the ball like you usually do! Besides, he’s wearing a batter’s helmet. It’ll be _fine_ , Marinette.”

“Okay.” Marinette said miserably, grabbing the ball in her free hand. Alya gave her one last supportive smile before running back behind Adrien, crouching and giving Marinette a thumbs-up.

Marinette let out a deep breath, and shakily put up her mitt to her line of sight, squinting at the space that was Adrien’s strike zone. Alya’s catcher’s mitt was in the middle of said space, ready to catch the ball that wasn’t supposed to come in contact with Adrien’s bat.

That is, if Marinette could bring herself to _not_ go easy on Adrien.

“Think about something else, think about something else.” Marinette murmured, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “An akuma, an akuma! Pretend the mitt’s an akuma, pretend the ball’s the yoyo.”

With the motivation that she had given herself, Marinette took one deep breath, grabbed the ball in her free hand tightly, and spun her arm around, letting go of the ball at the perfect moment.

It flew quickly toward Adrien and Alya, and Adrien swung, face full of concentration as he attempted to hit the ball that Marinette had pitched.

No such luck. The ball landed in Alya’s mitt perfectly, hitting it with a satisfying _thump_.

“Strike one!”

“Nice one, Marinette!” Mylène called from the first base. She and the rest of Marinette’s team had been nervous as soon as Adrien had stepped up to the plate, knowing about Marinette’s crush and her nervousness around him. They had expected Marinette to go easy on Adrien, and were prepared to catch the ball that would unmistakeably go flying, but it seemed Marinette had just proven them wrong.

The raven-haired girl spared a grin, adjusting her cap as the sun shone in her eyes. “Okay, another one, Mari.”

She gripped the ball tightly, waiting as Alya adjusted the mitt to Adrien’s new strike zone – the boy had shifted his position. Marinette squinted – she had to get it perfectly, and in a blink of an eye, had once again, pitched the ball perfectly.

_Thump!_

“Strike two!”

“Way to go, Mari!” Alya grinned, throwing the ball back to the pitcher.

“Eyes on the ball, Adrien!” Nino cried from where he waited on the third base.

Both Marinette and Adrien nodded, eyes squinting and fingers clenching harder on what they were holding.

“One hit, one hit, one hit.” Adrien murmured.

“One last strike, one last strike, one last strike.” Marinette whispered.

The field was eerily silent as Marinette prepped up what she _hoped_ was her last pitch of the day. She took in one sharp breath, shifted her foot a little, and pitched the ball perfectly.

This time, however, there was no satisfying thump – only the sound of a ball coming in contact with the bat.

It was a hit!

The ball was flying, a white blur through the air. Adrien’s team cheered – Nino was going to score because of Adrien’s hit.

Marinette’s team, however, was silent, looking up in the air, moving closer to the ball that was going to land, hit the ground hard, cause them another -

_Thump!_

“Alya!”

_Thump!_

“Two outs! Marinette’s team wins!”

Adrien and Nino were left gaping as the two girls cheered, running towards each other and hugging happily. The rest of their team threw their mitts in the air, running towards their captain and their co-captain, shouting their names in pride.

“Did you _see_ that?!” Nino exclaimed, running towards Adrien.

“No. What happened?” Adrien admitted, taking off his baseball cap to frown at Nino.

“Dude, Marinette _caught_ your flyball. As soon as I saw the way you bat, I _knew_ you were gonna get an out.”

“Hey!”

“I’m your friend, I only speak the truth.” Nino shrugged. “But as soon as she caught it, she caught Alya’s attention and threw the ball so fast I didn’t know what was coming! And then Alya tagged me, and then, well,” Nino gestured to the cheering team, “the rest is history.”

“I didn’t know Marinette was so _good_.” Adrien mused.

“Yeah, I know. She didn't use to be that good at all, to be honest.” Nino shrugged. “I mean, we played last year, and Kim always put her as a left fielder – where the balls never go. Then Alya arrived, and then they started practicing, since Alya’s really good at softball. She must have taught Marinette a thing or two!”

“You think Alya could teach _me_ a thing or two? I sorta let the team down.” Adrien sighed.

“Ah, don’t feel too bad, man. You did your best, it was a good bat for a beginner like you.” Nino said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to improve how I bat, right?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Alya can’t teach you today, because she and I have a date I won’t let us miss. I’m taking her to the movies. Classic romantic move.” Nino grinned.

Adrien smirked, shaking his head. “Alright, fine. Ask her when she can, then.”

Nino started to nod, but then he perked up, eyes shining with mischief as he turned to Adrien. “Dude, I have an even _better_ idea.”

“What?”

“Why don’t we ask _Marinette_?! Come on, dude, she’d _totally_ say yes!” Nino exclaimed.

“Uh, I don’t know, Nino.” Adrien murmured, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I don’t think she likes me.”

Nino frowned. “Dude, what are you talking about?”

“She’s always really nervous when she’s around me! She never talks to me like she does with the rest of you.” Adrien sighed. “I’m just not sure if she forgives me for the bubblegum incident.”

Nino would have screamed, would have shouted at Adrien for being the oblivious blind bat that he was, but Alya had made him promise to tell nobody, not even Marinette herself, that he knew about Marinette’s gigantic crush on Adrien.

Which was sort of ridiculous, Nino had tried to reason. The whole _class knew_ , why try to hide it as a secret?

(Then again, Alya had told him that Marinette liked living in denial of the fact that her crush on Adrien was that obvious. At least she was right that it wasn’t obvious for _Adrien_.)

“Dude. _Trust_ me.” Nino muttered, an arm around Adrien’s neck as he pulled the boy’s head closer. “Marinette would _love_ to teach you. Look, you can ask her now. Pst! Mari!”

The raven-haired girl turned their way, eyes wide with curiosity at why Nino had called her. Alya grinned, catching the look in Nino’s eyes, and proceeded to drag Marinette by the wrist.

“Good game, guys! Next time, try not to lose too bad.” Alya smirked, slinging her arm over Marinette’s shoulder.

“Please. You beat us by a _point_. If my buddy Adrien here hadn’t so generously given you a flyball, you guys _know_ you would have been beat.” Nino retorted.

“You’re really good, Marinette.” Adrien offered, noticing how uncomfortable Marinette looked between the two lovers.

“I – I’m just lucky, I, uh, guess!” Marinette stuttered nervously.

(It was an improvement on her part, seeing as she usually couldn’t form a coherent sentence around him. At least _now_ Adrien could actually understand her.)

“Speaking of your _superb_ skills, Marinette,” Nino continued, “you think you could teach my boy Adrien here a thing or two?”

“W-what?!”

“Well, Alya and I have a date we’re sorta going to be late to if she has to teach Adrien, and since you’re almost as great as Alya and _don’t_ have a date –”

“Nino!” It was Adrien who jabbed him in the stomach, a look of annoyance on the usually peaceful blonde’s face. “That’s rude, man.”

“I-it’s fine, Adrien.” Marinette said, a small blush on her face. “A-and, yeah, I’d love to teach you!”

“Really?” In a split second, Adrien had turned to Marinette, seemingly forgetting the fact that Nino had insulted the latter moments before.

Marinette bit her lip, looking like she regretted her decision – she was, after all, going to be teaching _Adrien Agreste_ at softball.

Forget getting hit by the ball, Marinette was already dizzy.

She looked up at Adrien, nodding slowly and pinching her arm behind her back, reminding herself to stay awake despite the fact that Adrien was sending her a smile that made her knees weak.

(Then again, everything Adrien did made her weak.)

The sound of a cellphone alarm caught their attention and they turned to Nino, who grinned guiltily. “Sorry. That was my alarm. Alya and I have to get going.”

“You have an _alarm_ for our date?” Alya smirked.

“Yeah? So what?” Nino was pouting.

“And you can’t even set an alarm to wake yourself up?”

“...Shut up, Alya.”

Adrien and Marinette waited as their friends walked off laughing to each other, before turning to each other with a small blush on their faces.

“So...uh...what did you want to know?”

“Nino said my batting needs a bit practice.” Adrien admitted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other – he still held the bat in his hand. “Because it’s easy to catch?”

“Oh! Yep, um, that’s because it’s a flyball. See, it goes up in the air, so it’s easy to catch. As soon as anyone catches it, you’re out. That’s the rule: if the ball doesn’t hit the ground and someone catches it, the batter’s automatically out.” Marinette explained. “So what you want to do is get a grounder.”

“Um...” Adrien muttered, a blush of embarrassment coming over his face. It was embarrassing how much he didn’t know, how far behind he was from his classmates in terms of things like these.

Marinette noticed the way Adrien’s eyes were nervously flitting from her to the ground, and she nudged him gently. “You know, I couldn’t even bat a single ball when I first played.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me.” Marinette chuckled, throwing the ball up in the air repeatedly and catching it in both her free hand and the hand that was encased in her mitt. “No one wanted me on their team. When I was on the team, people never ran out of ways to keep me out of the field. Then Alya came around. See, you just need a good teacher: I mean, you’re already a good enough batter and a pitcher.” Marinette smiled.

“You really think so?” Adrien asked.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Marinette giggled, turning to look at Adrien.

He knew he was supposed to laugh, supposed to smile and shake his head no, telling Marinette that she didn’t look like she’s joking, but he hadn’t been in many situations where he didn’t say the first thing on his mind, so his default was to say the first thing that crossed his mind.

In hindsight, he should have thought about the fact that Marinette was easily flustered by comments like the ones he gave.

“No, actually. You look beautiful.” he muttered, a small smile crossing his face.

And she was, with her hair tied carelessly so that it could fit through the small hair of her baseball cap, the beads of sweat falling across her face (she had paused in the middle of wiping them off her face with her arm) – but why had he _said that?!_

A blush covered Adrien’s face as he stumbled for words, eyeing the way Marinette’s face flushed red. “I – I’m sorry! I just – I mean, you _are_ beautiful but – just – I mean –”

Adrien was cut by something that sounded vaguely like a laugh, and betrayed eyes looked up to see Marinette laughing, biting her lip to try and stop her laughs. As soon as she saw the way Adrien was looking at her sadly, she put up a hand and shook her head, trying to tell Adrien that she wasn’t laughing at his clumsiness – rather, she was laughing because he oddly reminded her of herself.

“I-is that what I sound like?” she asked between giggles.

“H-huh?”

Marinette shook her head, sighing as the last of her laughs escaped her body. “Never mind. Come on, let’s get started while there's still some sunlight left.”

* * *

“Marinette! There’s a package for you!”

“Coming, _maman!_ ”

Marinette smiled, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek as she grabbed the package. “Are you sure you don’t need help down in the bakery?”

“Oh, we’re fine, you continue with your designs up there. I only wanted to give this to you. The person who dropped it off wanted you to have it immediately. I told him to come up, but he said he was just passing by.” Sabine explained.

“Him? Who, Nino?” Marinette asked, confused as she inspected the package.

“Oh, no! He’s the boy who’s plastered all over your walls.” Sabine exclaimed, a smile on her face.

Marinette, on the other hand, was staring at the package like it was going to defuse, a thousand thoughts going through her head as she tried to accept the fact that _Adrien Agreste_ had come by her house, told her mom to give her a package, and that she was holding the package in her _very hands._

The same package that had been held by Adrien’s manly, perfect, flawless hands...

Marinette frowned. Okay, she had to admit _that_ was weird, even by her standards.

“Well, we’ll be downstairs if you need us, Marinette.” Sabine continued, and Marinette nodded, silently climbing up the stairs to her room.

“What are you waiting for, Marinette?” Tikki asked, revealing herself from her hiding place as soon as Marinette closed the trap door.

“What would _Adrien_ give me?” Marinette murmured, more to herself than to Tikki.

“We’ll find out if we open it!” Tikki reminded Marinette, making the girl smile and pet Tikki’s head softly.

She proceeded to tear apart the paper that held the package together, gasping as soon as she saw what was inside.

“No _way_!”

Tikki watched carefully as Marinette put up a softball mitt – a brand new one that Marinette had told Alya she had wanted.

As if on cue, Marinette’s phone buzzed with a new message.

**From: Alya**

**> You owe me 4,000 croissants now!**

**To: Alya**

**> WHY DID YOU TELL ADRIEN TO BUY ME SOMETHING?**

**> I DIDN’T NEED IT**

**> ALYA HE’LL THINK I’M A GOLD DIGGER OR SOMETHING!**

**From: Alya**

**> Girl, chill out!**

**> He asked me what you wanted and I just told him the truth!**

**> No, wait, he didn’t ask me. He insisted.**

“Here, Marinette! There’s a letter for you!” Tikki exclaimed, emerging from the package to hand Marinette a folded piece of paper.

Silently, Marinette opened the letter to read its contents, a blush appearing on her face as she sank down in her chair.

_‘Dear Marinette,_

_Thanks so much for teaching me! You didn’t have to, but you did, so I thought I would give you a little gift as a ‘thank you’._

_Would you like to come practice with me tomorrow at the park? Nino and Alya can’t come, though. Text me your reply! I wrote my number at the back of the letter!_

_Thanks, again!_

_-Adrien’_

Tikki giggled as she watched Marinette jump up with happiness. It seemed like Adrien and Marinette were finally getting to know each other and getting to spend time finding out who the other really was.

Now there was only one _tiny_ little secret left to reveal...

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Okay, so you guys have the right to know that the only reason why they're playing softball is because I am a softball player myself, and that is the only sport I know how to write into a story without remembering cringe-worthy attempts of playing the sport or being shouted at by hundreds of fans of the sport. 
> 
> That being said, I seriously think this is the most boring thing I've written. Mental note to self: never try to write a fic involving sports. 
> 
> (Also, I did no research on this. Please, please, _please_ don't tell me they don't play softball in France. I might die of shame. Twice.) 
> 
> Disclaimer: Miraculous Ladybug belongs to Thomas Astruc and Zagtoon! This is a fanfiction and is no way canon or my way of claiming Miraculous Ladybug as my own show.


End file.
